The present invention relates to dental hygiene, and more particularly to the cleaning of teeth in humans and other animals. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a cleaning liquid and a cleaning gel or paste for cleaning human or other animal teeth.
The practice of oral hygiene in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health care and the like has always been a rather vague and ill defined procedure. Some people in such institutions are, of course, able to care for themselves by using conventional tooth brushes and commercially available oral hygiene products such as toothpaste, mouth washes, and the like. However, others both in and out of such institutions are largely or totally dependent on others. For example, people suffering from arthritis, stroke victims, and other medically compromised people, may find it difficult to hold and manipulate a tooth brush while other more severely ill people, such as senile or comatose patients, simply cannot maintain their own oral hygiene programs.
Those people who find it difficult to hold and manipulate a conventional tooth brush are very often ineffective when it comes to accomplishing adequate oral hygiene. Similarly, those attempting to help the people who are unable to help themselves, such as the staff personnel of a hospital or nursing home, or the family of such a person, may not be trained in the techniques needed for administering proper oral hygiene to others. Additionally, it is very awkward, messy and difficult for untrained medical or lay people to help others with performing oral hygiene routines. As a result, very often, even in medical institutions, the practice of oral hygiene is inadequate and in some cases, non-existent.
Thus, what is needed is a portable device for cleaning human or other animal teeth, that can be easily utilized by untrained medical personnel in a variety of settings, including in health care facilities, rest homes, or residences.
In addition to the need for a device that can be used for cleaning teeth, there is a need for a dental hygiene material that is suitable for use with such device and, most preferably, that can be used as an oral rinse in lieu of conventional tooth cleaning pastes (toothpaste). This need for a solution, as opposed to gels and/or pastes, is due in part to the fact that the relatively thick toothpastes that are commonly available for dental hygiene purposes are difficult for care providers in hospitals, in skilled nursing facilities and in home health care to apply to patients and are often difficult for patients in such situations to expel after the oral hygiene has been performed. Consequently, these patients often receive inadequate and/or incomplete dental cleaning and are, therefore, at greater risk of oral infection, such as oral ulcers, caused by the bacteria-harboring plaque that remains in the patient's mouth following such a cleaning. Patients with comprised immune systems, such as those suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or undergoing chemotherapeutics, are particularly susceptible to such mouth ulcers. Thus, such persons are particularly in need of a dental hygiene solution that can be easily rinsed throughout their mouth, either by them or with the assistance of an irrigation device, that will effectively remove plaque from the tooth surface thereby ridding the mouth of the disease-causing bacteria.
A dental hygiene solution that can be used in lieu of toothpastes and gels would further be useful for cleaning children's teeth, particularly if the solution is capable of cleaning teeth equivalently to conventional toothpastes, yet has no sodium fluoride and may be safely swallowed. Recently, there has been much debate over whether and in what amounts humans may ingest sodium fluoride without harming the individual. Thus, removing the sodium fluoride from dental hygiene solutions is desirable, as long as its effectiveness at preventing tooth decay is maintained.
Thus, a dental hygiene material that is in a liquid form that can be easily and automatically irrigated into a person's mouth and simultaneously suctioned away or that can be easily and effectively swished by the person in his/her mouth, exposing all tooth surfaces to the material is desirable, especially for individuals with certain disabilities. Such a dental hygiene material, should provide for plaque and debris removal, similar to that provided by conventional pastes, and could advantageously provide breath freshening ingredients. It would be especially advantageous if such dental hygiene solution could be used as an oral rinse in lieu of conventional toothpaste and could prevent the occurrence of plaque associated disorders such as mouth ulcers.
Furthermore, it would be highly desirable if any dental hygiene material in a liquid form could also be adapted for use in a gel or paste form so that a similar formula could be employed both as a toothpaste or gel and as a liquid dental hygiene material. Such material should be amenable to use in various environments, such as in homes, in dental offices and/or in health care facilities. It is further desirable that the dental hygiene material be useful for cleaning both human and animal teeth and be amenable to use in a portable device.
The present invention advantageously addresses the above and other needs.